CVAC Symposium: Post-Extractive Visualities

Post-Extractive Visualities

Symposium Dates:  15th-16th June 2026
Location:  Hotel Indigo, 9 New Elvet, Durham, DH1 3HL

Join interdisciplinary researchers, artists and practitioners for this 2-day event, addressing the multifaceted dimensions of extraction as it manifests through our past and present culture and visual media, and how we can move towards a more sustainable, non-extractive future.  Colleagues interested in exploring new interdisciplinary or collaborative approaches are particularly encouraged to attend.

We're also thrilled to announce our keynote speaker - Inga Hamilton! About Inga and her work below.

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^{Left: Hamilton, I & Crow-In-A-Row Collaboration (2024). For the Enjoyment of Making a Noise. Lunula co-created via intuitive interspecies communication methodology. Wood, textile, Moss, EVA foam & brass. 36cm w x 36cm d x 23cm.} 

^{Right: Hamilton, I & Slug Collaboration (2024). Nighttime Slug Shimmer. Cuff and ring co-created via intuitive interspecies communication methodology. Wood, Moss, angelina & varnish. Cuff 12cm w x 7cm d x 12cm h, ring 4cm w x 4cm d x 4cm h.} 

^{All images 2024©Inga Hamilton} 

How can The Arts move from historical extractivist practices - the speciesist use of others’ bodies as subject or object; the ecocidal mining of landscapes for materials and resources; and the appropriation of Indigenous cultural imagery – towards practices of ethical co-creation with nonhumans? Intuitive interspecies communication (IIC) (Barrett et al., 2021) is providing a key to making studios, galleries and classrooms equitable spaces for all animals, plants, landscapes and beings, where collaboration exists without exploitation. 

Inga Hamilton’s IIC methodology enables nonhuman animals to direct artistic practice and knowledge production via telepathic and embodied communication – something Inga has experienced all her life.  Autistic, activist and art- jeweller, Inga is researching ‘blending the spaces between species’ in her practice-based PhD, ‘The Things Majority- Animals Make’. 

Inga’s making credentials include spinning yarns for the late Alexander McQueen at Gucci, representing Irish craft in the American Irish Historical Society in New York, USA and winning the Association of Contemporary Jewellers 2020 Graduate Award. Her career spans decades, creating content and writing for children’s art, craft and learning publications as well as international residencies and exhibitions. 

Inga is a PhD Researcher at the University of Sunderland UK and is AHRC funded. You can find out more about Inga's work here.

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Any questions or requests for information can be sent to cvac@durham.ac.uk.  

Symposium Programme

Day 1 / June 15, 2026 

9:00 - Arrival, registration, breakfast and tea/coffee 

9:30 - Welcome, about the symposium, housekeeping, Extractive Moments game 

Dr. Ladan Cockshut, CVAC Co-Director, and Akvile Jadzgeviciute, CVAC Administrator 

9:45 - Opening remarks 

Prof Jonathan Long, Director, Centre for Visual Arts and Culture 

10:00 - Panel 1: Extraction, Labour, Violence, and the Politics of Landscape  

Papers: Sanja Horvatinčić, Amber Murrey 

Chair: Jennifer Terry 

11:00 - Break 

11:15 - Panel 2: Material Ecologies, Memory, and More-than-Human Worlds 

Papers: Dora Osborne, Liesbeth François, Erick Nascimento Vidal 

Chair:  Leah Edwards

12:30 - Lunch, exhibits and networking 

13:30 - Welcome back 

13:40 - 2026 Keynote Address / Inga Hamilton 

“What Does Equitable Multibeing Co-Creation Look Like?” 

Chair: Akvile Jadzgeviciute 

15:15 - Comfort break 

15:30 - Extractive Moments: A Durham Game  

Play the 'Extractive Moments' game as we walk up to Palace Green 

(optional) View 2026 Durham Student Art Prize “Extraction” exhibit at Palace Green Library on the way 

16:30 - Sound Session: Ancestral Reverb Listening party / Music Department, Palace Green  

Speaker: Adam Cooper 

Chair: Jonathan Long 

18:00 - (Optional) Pre-dinner drinks (Hatfield College Bar)

19:00 - (Optional) Conference dinner / Akarsu Restaurant, Durham 

Day 2 / June 16, 2026 

9:30 - Arrival, registration, breakfast and coffee/tea 

10:00 - Welcome, housekeeping, exhibits, updates 

10:15 - Panel 3: Restorative Industrial Landscapes and Post-Extractive Heritage 

Speakers: Justin Carter, Nina White, Angela List-Evans 

Chair: Ladan Cockshut 

11:30 - Break 

11:45 - Our creative quilt: expressing our extractive moments 

Facilitators: Dr Ladan Cockshut, Leah Edwards

12:30 - Lunch, exhibits, network 

Joined by the student finalists of the Student Art Prize 

13:30 - Welcome back 

13:30 - Panel 4 — Post-Extractive Media, Archives, and Visual Methodologies  

Speakers: George Ridgway, Leah Edwards 

Chair: Akvile Jadzgeviciute

14:30 - Refreshment break and 2026-27 Planning 

• Our Writing and Creative Retreat Year 
• Edited book and/or Special issue on “Extraction” 
• Input into 2026-27 activities 
• Conference feedback 

Facilitators: Dr Ladan Cockshut, Professor Jonathan Long, Akvile Jadzgeviciute

15:30 - Symposium closes